- How are other poem titles in the collection significant?
Thursday 19 May 2011
What's in a title?
"Cousin Kate" - Interestingly, the poem largely focuses on the feelings of the narrator, and the actions of the lecherous lord. So why single Cousin Kate out for the title? Perhaps the speaker wishes to 'name and shame' her cousin, remaining anonymous herself. Perhaps she is drawing attention to her cousin's working class roots - remember that Kate is a shortened form of Catherine. When married to a lord, Kate would not be an appropriate name for a lady. We could suggest that in using 'Kate', the narrator is reminding her cousin where she has come from.
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miss i lost my anthology.. but this is better than anything in there so i'm just gunna copy this :)
ReplyDeleteBen! :(
ReplyDeleteBack to the topic of titles...
"Hitcher" is an interesting choice as it draws out the hypocrisy of the driver. Although we presume 'Hitcher' refers the the hippy, remember that the driver himself "thumbs a lift" to collect his hired car. Therefore, Simon Armitage makes it ambiguous to whom the title is referring, and highlights how similar the two men are ("we were the same age, give or take a week").
'Half-caste' - An interesting title! It not only indicates what the poem is about (the speaker's disdain for the term 'half-caste') but also, if read aloud before the poem, could indicate what the listener has just said. It is clearly implied that the listener has offended Agard, so the title and poem could be regarded as a dialogue.
ReplyDeleteWho agrees?!
'August 6, 1945' - Points us towards the significant event on this date. Would we read the poem differently without this information?
ReplyDeleteAugust has connotations of warmth, summer, carefree times. If you don't know the significance of this date, you may think it's about summertime in the 1940s (remember the war against Germany has ended by now), with no threat of fascism. As we know, it is much the opposite.
The Class Game - interesting! Think about the connotations of 'game'. It is about winning, and can be associated with children. Is the writer drawing out the immaturity of class-based prejudice? Or is she showing that there is a power struggle going on to determine who is superior?
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